President Obama urges Congress to pass jobs bill

WASHINGTON — Calling it an "urgent time for our country," President Barack Obama asked Congress to "stop the political circus" Thursday night and approve a nearly half-trillion-dollar plan to help the economy by cutting payroll taxes, raising taxes on the wealthy and rewarding companies that hire new workers.

"We continue to face an economic crisis that has left millions of our neighbors jobless and a political crisis that has made things worse," Obama said in an address to a joint session of Congress.

US President Barack Obama takes the podium before addressing a Joint Session of Congress on Sept. 8, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Obama laid out a jobs plan before the US Congress that includes middle class tax cuts, infrastructure spending, help for the unemployed and the passage of trade deals designed to boost US exports.

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Fred Kuehne searches for a job at the Suffolk County One Stop Employment Center on Sept. 8 in Hauppauge, New York. President Barack Obama will address Congress and the nation tonight on his plan for job growth in America. With unemployment still above 9 percent across the nation, job growth has become the center piece to the administration.